In a network, a router assigns a single media access control (MAC) address for a given internet protocol (IP) interface. Clients use the IP interface of the router to route traffic to specific destinations. The clients can form part of a logical division of an IP network referred to as a “subnet”. The clients can use the router to route traffic outside of the subnet. The network can include switches to switch traffic among clients within the same subnet and between clients and the router. In some cases, the switches can be formed as a “mesh network.” In a mesh network, switches are connected to each other such that there are many paths between clients and other network devices on the mesh network. A message can propagate along a path by hopping from switch to switch until the destination is reached. A router having a single MAC address for its IP interface and being part of a switch mesh environment can result in several problems.
For example, in some switch mesh environments, all traffic is forwarded through the mesh based on destination MAC address. Thus, for any given MAC address destination, there is one path through the mesh (traffic can enter the path closer or farther from the destination, but it is still the same path). If many clients are sending traffic to an outside subnet, and the router IP interface resides on a mesh switch (i.e., the router is also a mesh switch), all traffic will take the same path through the mesh. This is because only one MAC address is assigned to the router's IP interface, and hence there is only one path through the mesh to the router's IP interface.